


Birth of the Winterbornes

by GaeminiWinterborne



Series: The Winterborne Legacy [1]
Category: Star Wars Legends: The Old Republic
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Childbirth, F/M, Implied Sexual Content, Pregnancy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-09-10
Updated: 2017-09-10
Packaged: 2018-12-25 22:49:53
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,715
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12045936
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GaeminiWinterborne/pseuds/GaeminiWinterborne
Summary: The Winterborne-Revel Family truly begins. A pregnant pureblooded sith, her husband and her crew crash land on the frozen planet of Hoth in the middle of a storm. The ship needs repairs, and she's about to give birth. In the frozen temperatures, against a blizzard, they brave the cold and welcome new life in a planet that would bring death.





	1. Crash Landing

**Author's Note:**

> This is a revision of my work [Born of Winter](http://archiveofourown.org/works/11747616/chapters/26474943). It will continue over time as I add more chapters and characters to the family. This is the first three chapters, and it will lead into the stories of each character as a separate work, referring back to this as the early days of life. The stories are interlinked, this is a prelude to the future, while the individual stories of each child will bring you closer to where the game is currently sitting.
> 
> As with [Born of Winter](http://archiveofourown.org/works/11747616/chapters/26474943), this is a SWTOR Fanfic. Mystynae's story is not at all in line with the Sith Inquisitor storyline, but there's reasons for that if you continue to read on into Mysty's children's lives, as I get them added.
> 
> I hope you enjoy.

“What do you mean, the ship is malfunctioning, Andronikos?” Darth Mysterion demanded of her husband, holding her distended belly. She was eight months pregnant, irritable, and easily angered. That she knew she was having more than one child didn’t bother her in the least. However, that they were in orbit over Hoth, because Talos needed to see to some Imperial Reclamation Service business, and were now descending into the icy atmosphere of the planet made her more than a little irate.

“Sith, something went wrong. I went over everything I could, and there’s nothing I can do except bring her down. Go sit down, please, and strap in. There’s a blizzard covering the area over Dorn, and it’s gonna be a bumpy ride,” Andronikos glanced at his wife. Despite the glower on her face, and the flash in her golden eyes, he still found her to be the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen.

Out of prudence, rather than the order she was given, the Darth strapped herself into a seat, cautiously moving the belt under her belly. At least here she could keep an eye on the situation, and the man she married as he fought against the force of the storm. “What can I do to help?” she asked, though it came out more like a demand.

“Sit tight and let me do my job, gorgeous,” he didn’t look at her this time. Lights were flashing on the console and he was beginning to get nervous.

The Fury bounced in the atmosphere and the engines whined. The Sith looked out the window, unable to see anything but white and gray. How her husband was seeing anything, she didn’t understand, but she had to trust him. Another bounce and her stomach tensed around the masses of babies in her belly. She grumbled and muttered to her stomach, “Now is not the time for a contraction. Be calm.”

She ran a hand over her abdomen, took a deep breath and closed her eyes. She focused on The Force, using the methods the Voss trained her to use for such occasions. Normally, she would embrace the small pain, let it anger her and use it. But she was pregnant, and the Voss mystics told her that her normal ways were not going to keep her from going into labor, which was the goal. Forcing herself to find a calm that was abnormal to her, she finally felt a bit more relaxed. Then the alarms began to go off.

“Andronikos Revel! Are we crashing?” her calm was gone when she raised her voice to yell at her husband.

“Yup,” he answered simply.

“I demand an explanation!”

“Not gonna get one, sith. I’m trying to save all our lives.”

Electricity sparked around the Darth’s fingertips as she gripped the arms of the chair. She was angry, and her control wasn’t very good at the moment. Feeling fear was an unusual sensation for her. And the more afraid she became, the angrier she got. The ship shuddered; the lights flickered, and then blinked out. Andronikos bellowed out a curse, and another contraction ripped through her stomach.

She groaned with the pain, her hands clutched her belly and she took several quick breaths, and then let them out slowly as she was taught to. She heard the electricity spark back to life. The engines sputtered and coughed, then went to a full whirring sound she knew as what Nikki called “punching it.” She steadied herself, the contraction eased, and she opened her eyes. “Are we safe?”

“It’s going to be a hard landing, Mysty, and we’re off course, but I got this. We can land with minimal damages,” Andronikos’ hands flew over buttons and switches.

“Nikki, please don’t let us die here. Anywhere but here, please,” her voice was filled with fear, and that unsettled him. His wife, his “sith” as he called her, was confident, aggressive, passionate, even more than a little nuts, but she was never afraid and that rattled him a bit.

“We’re not going to die, Mysty. You got my word on that.”

“The word of a pirate,” she snorted.

“How about the word of your husband?” he glanced at her again, and wished he didn’t. Her eyes were round, her red skin was flushed nearly purple, and he didn’t like the way she was holding her stomach.

“That I’ll take,” he barely heard her mutter before he saw the white ground seeming to rise up to meet them, and much too quickly.

He pulled up hard on the control, and managed to avoid crashing into the packed snow and ice. He dropped the flaps to keep the winds of the blizzard from carrying them off further than he intended them to go. The problem was the shape of the Fury. It was flat and nearly disc shaped. The winds picked it up, the engines running light as the drag was taken off them, and it carried the small personal ship further away from the landing zone than he wanted to be.

Then the Fury skidded to a halt across the fresh powder, they were several miles away from the base, and any kind of warmth that could be found. The engines and power died at the same time, and a grinding sound made Nikki wince. The Fury wasn’t going to restart, he was certain of that. He tried anyway, and only got a few clicks in response. Something was stuck in the engine, and something came loose in the power core. It would take some time to fix. He unstrapped himself from his seat, and immediately went to Mysty, “You okay, sith?”

Her eyes closed when they hit the snow, and she wasn’t certain reopening them was a good idea. She took several deep breaths. The sound of Nikki’s voice so close, however made her tilt her head in the direction it came from. She felt the seatbelt come loose, then his hands gently checking her body for any kind of injury. When he touched her ribs, she almost giggled at him, but managed to merely pull away from him, “I’m fine, I think. You don’t need to tickle me.”

There was a groan behind them, and the massive Dashade filled the entry way. His guttural language came easily, and comforting to Mysty’s ears, “Has the little man forgotten how to fly?”

“No, Khem. There was a problem with the ship. He had to land, and because of the storm, there was problems doing that,” she reassured the big creature.

“Then he did well?” the Dashade asked.

Mysty nodded, “Yes.”

“I will see to Ashara and Xalek,” Khem responded and left the area.

“Did I piss it off?”

“No. He didn’t understand what happened and why we crashed. He’s gone to check on Ashara and Xalek.”

“Good. We need to get you to bed.”

“We’re just going to stay here?” she asked quietly.

“Yeah. It’s a nasty blizzard out there, gorgeous. We need to stay here and as warm as possible. While you rest, I’m gonna make that hunk of metal you call a protocol droid do more than paint the damned ship. It’s gonna help me fix the power so we don’t freeze to death out here,” he promised as he pulled her to her feet. Slowly, the two of them maneuvered through the ship, avoiding the small things no one thought about tying down.

Mysty crawled into the bed she shared with her rotten pirate husband, after he helped her out of her boots. She barely noticed him covering her, as she let everything go and drifted into sleep almost immediately.

Nikki shook his head at his sleeping wife. She was beautiful. Her skin the color of blood, her eyes like melted gold. She was, to him, everything his life was missing before The Sky Princess was taken from him. Now, he had his sith, in blood and power. He didn’t know much about who she was before he met her, and he didn’t care. He knew who she was now, and that’s what mattered, even if she was a more than a little nuts. He smoothed her black hair back away from the skin marking at her jaw that proclaimed her pureblooded Sith, and kissed her forehead.

She reached out to his side of the bed, and pulled his pillow to her chest and face. She took a deep breath in, gave a small smile and snuggled into it. That was all the proof he needed that he was right where he needed to be. “I love you, Sith,” he whispered and left her alone to sleep. As he shoved the door mostly closed, he heard her whisper, “I love you, my pirate.” With a secret smirk, he headed to the power core to find out what happened, and how to fix it.


	2. An Inconvenient Birth

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mysty, Nikki and their crew huddle up to bring in the new lives of the Winterborne-Revel Family. An old fashioned birth in an inhospitable place.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is almost the same as the first chapter in [Born of Winter](http://www.archiveofourown.org/works/11747616/chapters/26474943). There were parts that needed rewriting to make the flow better. I'm sorry about this folks, but my OCD wouldn't let it just sit like this.

Mystynae rested her head against Andronikos’ chest, panting with the pressure in her distended belly. He massaged her sore abdominal muscles between the contractions, his fingers pressing into the blood red skin. Her golden eyes squeezed shut and she gave out a low toned growl, and Khem Val’s pacing ceased. His strange alien eyes staring down at the couple, moving over the pure blooded sith’s exposed abdomen, “There are too many in there. Little sith, this is not a good place. They will be small and they will freeze.”

Mystynae looked up at the Dashade as he gestured to the ice cave they were resting in, her gold eyes meeting his momentarily, “There are enough, not too many. And there is no choice.” Her clipped imperial accent was smooth despite her pain. “They are coming, and they will come tonight. Khem, get Ashara and Xalek. We need blankets, cloth and hot water. Ashara will know what to bring.” He didn’t hesitate, his clawed feet, wrapped in heavy skins for protection, ground through the heavy ice and snows of the frozen planet of Hoth to carry out his master’s orders.

Andronikos stared between his wife and her great beast’s retreating grey and red back, “How many, sith?”

Her eyes rolled as she grunted in pain, her abdomen contracted again, “Six, Nikki.” The words came out in a grunt, and Nikki’s hands froze, pressing against her abdomen. He felt movement inside her, but the shock of the number held him still better than carbonite ever could.

“Six?” he hissed. “How in the hell? Why didn’t you tell me?”

“AHH!” She roared and the walls of the caves shook with it. The hairs on Nikki’s arms stood at attention as lightning began to crackle between the icicles at the ceiling of the cave. This was not where he wanted to be. When he discovered the power core needed a new part, he was prepared to go ahead to Dorn on his own. He was giving orders to Ashara when the sound of metal tearing from the direction of his cabin sent him running. Mysty was in full blown labor, and the med bay was a mess, not to mention completely unusable.

Mysty was determined, however, she said labor took hours, and she could make it to Dorn with his and Khem’s help. With the blizzard still raging, and the speeders in a tangled heap in the cargo bay, the five set out on foot. Ashara and Xalek coming along to fight, if there was a need. Mysty walked without pause almost half the way before a contraction took her to her knees. That’s when Nikki put his foot down, “We’re going back.”

“No time. The pains are coming more and more rapidly, Nikki. My water just broke,” she gasped. Nikki knew what that meant. If they couldn’t get back to the ship, they couldn’t get to Dorn. They were going to have to find a place to hole up. His wife was going to deliver their kid the old fashioned way, much to Nikki’s dismay.

The reality of the situation made him feel helpless, which he hated more than anything. Nikki took a deep breath, not certain of what to do. He moved his hands from her belly to her hands, her nails biting into his flesh for a moment before the contraction eased. His voice was raspy when he whispered, “Why didn’t you tell me we were having six, Mysty? And how in the hell are we supposed to handle six children? And why are we having them in a fucking cave on Hoth?”

She took a deep, steadying breath, her lips curled sweetly, “Because, my pirate, I knew you would panic. I saw this coming, my love. My husband. But I also saw how much you would love them. They will be your pride, Nikki. We will handle them with the help of our crew and friends. And we’re here because we were trying to get to a base when I couldn’t walk any longer. The pains are too close together.”

To Nikki’s ears, she already sounded tired. He was worried. They needed to get to a medical bay. A million things could go wrong, and his mind was touching on each one as her nails bit into his skin again. His thoughts were interrupted by Khem’s return with his wife’s apprentices.

Ashara immediately took over the care for Mysty, and Nikki was grateful for the relief. He’d never delivered a child before, and was planning on being somewhere safe and drunk where his sith’s lightning couldn’t catch him from the pain he was putting her through in giving birth to their first – SIX children.

He disentangled his hands from hers and wrapped his arms around her shoulders. Ashara handed him two thick ropes that he couldn’t wrap his fist completely around. “Give them to her; it will keep her from causing more wounds on you or herself.”

He fitted a rope in each of her hands, just in time for her black painted nails to dig into the fibers. She gave no more than a grunt to indicate the pain she was in, her eyes drifted closed and she began to recite the Sith Code, which she often did when she was struggling with something mentally, or when she was in pain. Nikki had it memorized from how many times he heard her whisper it to herself while she focused.

Time passed as the temperatures outside dropped the slight warmth giving way to bitter, biting cold as the day faded into night. However, inside the cave it was growing warmer from the fires Khem kept lit. Finally, Mysty growled, released the rope and nearly shoved herself off Andronikos, grabbing her left knee in her left hand and curled herself around her stomach. Ashara moved the robes out of the way and barked out, “Andronikos, I need someone without clawed hands, they are coming.”

Without hesitation, Nikki did as he was instructed and within a few minutes, he was holding a squalling white haired baby girl. She was tiny; smaller than he’d ever heard of an infant being, but this was his daughter. Mysty was strong, so the child would be strong. He had no doubts about that.

Following Ashara’s orders he made quick work of cleaning the baby, including up her nose and down her throat which only seemed to anger her. Nikki received a small shock from the infant in retaliation for her annoyance, and he laughed at the numbness passing up his left arm, “She will be a strong sith, gorgeous.”

“Name her, Andronikos. The others are being impatient, and they better not have names that I hate,” her golden eyes focused hard on her husband and he barked out laughing, but didn’t say a word to her warning.

He brushed his fingers over the faint wisp of white hair on his first born’s head and whispered, “Baejiou. Her name is Baejiou.”

Nikki wrapped her in one of the thick blankets Ashara brought with her and he passed her to Khem, who eagerly took her and began grumbling at her in his weird tongue. Nikki tapped the information quickly into a datapad, as Ashara called it out, before draping the swaddled baby in a small fur to keep her warm. “When your hands get full, Khem, Xalek can help hold them and keep them warm.”

Nikki let his eyes focus on the small person in Khem’s arms, he was surprised that she bore absolutely none of her mother’s coloring, but the bone structure, the strong jaw, arched eyebrow, those were already there and very much like Mystynae’s own. Genetics, he thought with a snort, it made no sense.

Ashara passed the second infant to him, also with shock white hair, the same features. He took a deep shuddering breath wondering how a black haired pure blooded sith and a brunette pirate ended up with white haired children. He shook his head in wonder and muttered softly, “This one is Ameranis.” He began the process he’d completed with Baejiou only a moment before.

Mysty smiled in her moment of respite looking at her husband and their two first born children. They were tiny, but she knew they would grow up to be strong, and Nikki would be proud of them and their accomplishments. Ashara’s words drew her attention from her rapidly growing family, “How are you feeling, my lord?”

“Tired, but we aren’t even half way there, my young friend. They’re giving me a rest for the moment,” Mysty’s eyes returned to her husband and daughters, and the Dashade hovering protectively over the three. “But the remaining four will not be patient for long.”

“Has your second water broken?” Ashara spoke quizzically as she cleaned up some of the blood and birth fluid pooled around Mysty’s hips. Ashara’s people weren’t born this way, but she made sure to study and learn everything she could in case something exactly like what was happening happened. Now she was learning more about Pureblood Sith biology than she ever thought she would. She was, however, surprised that the children resembled Andronikos in nearly every aspect. Why were they not red, like her master?

“Yes,” Mysty confirmed as softly. She was allowing herself to relax, watching each person in the cave. Andronikos was taking his time with each baby, now that they were clean. Xalek kept the fires burning, but he expressed interest in the strength of each child, and his role in their lives. Khem was determined to protect and train them as closely to what Mysty would allow him to train them in the way he was raised as a Dashade.

Ashara smiled, and as if reading Mysty’s mind, she spoke, “Your larvae will certainly enjoy climbing Mount Khem Val.”

Mysty laughed weakly and nodded, ignoring the term larvae, “They will. And he will enjoy teaching them. He thinks of them as his, as much as they are mine and Nikki’s. We are Khem’s family, Ashara. As are you, Talos and Xalek. Khem doesn’t show affection, but I know when he likes someone. I can see when he-”

Mysty’s words cut off and she groaned. It was time for Baejiou and Ameranis’ siblings to come into the world, as cold as it was. Her break was over, and despite her back aching, her abdominal muscles burning, her hips and leg muscles quivering from the strain, she returned to the business at hand. Her physical energy was depleted, but she pushed beyond it, as she was pushed beyond physical endurance on Korriban. She would not stop, not until her children were safely born, clean, warm, named and fed for the first time.

An hour later, Mysty lay resting. Her head rested on Nikki’s thigh. She was as clean as she could be given their circumstances. Her breasts bare as Baejiou fed from one, while Ameranis fed from the other. She was exhausted, but happy. The pain in her body a memory in comparison to the joy over meeting her children face to face for the first time. She smiled softly and whispered, “You did well, my pirate. Their names suit them.”

Nikki smiled and smoothed his wife’s black hair back away from her face. He held his third born in his left arm with his right hand petting his wife. At that moment, he took in the sight of her feeding his children. Her powerful but lithe body quiet for the first time in hours. Her crimson skin bare to the chill of the air from her ribs up as she held the white bundled pale skinned babes to her breasts. Her golden eyes focused on their soft sleeping faces, and white hair. In that moment, he couldn’t love her more, or see anything in his heart as more beautiful. Pride swelled within him, and he knew his wife’s vision was true. He would die protecting his girls. All seven of them. His six beautiful daughters and his crazy sith wife.

Ashara removed Baejiou and Ameranis from their mother’s arms and pressed them into Khem Val’s arms. She passed Mystynae her fourth born while Andronikos settled their third born. With some guidance from their father, both girls found their mother’s nipples and began to suckle. Ashara retreated to continue her reports about the births of her lord’s children.

The pirate smiled and pressed a kiss to Mysty’s head, “How are Gaemini and Letra in your eyes?”

“Perfect. None of my children bear the red markings of the sith, rather they all have their father’s coloring. I am a bit shocked at the hair color differences. We have Baejiou and Ameranis with white hair, and both have already demonstrated the ability to use the Force. Gaemini, Letra, Braenna and Sanzura all have darker hair, between dark brown and black. But in my vision, I couldn’t tell if they were male or female, but their hair color varied from white to black with browns and reds in between. Yet, I know all six of these children were specially made by you and me,” there was no concern in Mysty’s words, but rather a bit of admiration for how life, and the Force, worked, even on the simplest of things.

Nikki smiled, “They could dye it when they get older, Sith. But quiet now. When the sun’s up, Xalek and I are going for a medivac transport to get you and my beautiful daughters to someplace more civilized than an ice cave, and safer. I want you to save your strength and get some rest while you can.”

Mystynae, not one for accepting orders easily, nodded and relaxed a bit, letting her daughters continue their first meal. Her words were soft enough that Andronikos almost missed them, “Your first adventure and you’re only hours old. How like your father you’re going to be.”

Nikki pressed a kiss to his wife’s forehead, careful to avoid the red tags at her brow as they tended to be a touch more sensitive than the rest of her skin. He chuckled low and whispered, “Thank you for my family, Sith.”


	3. Letra Winterborne-Revel: The Champion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Letra as a small child, and some of the unique things about her that shock and surprise her family. At ages four, seven, twelve and nineteen, we see how Letra grows.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the beginning of the first of the sisters' lives. Letra, at the moment, is my favorite, so she's first. As I begin other storylines for the other sisters, this part of the story will continue with other chapters being added.

_Four years later_ , Nikki left his wife in their cabin on The Fury. She slept after some very vigorous afternoon activity. He was freshly showered, and found his daughters sitting in various places in the main chamber of the ship. Twovee was watching after them with a close eye.

Ameranis and Baejiou were cuddled together on a blanket on the floor staring into one another’s eyes, saying nothing. Nikki knew they were communicating with one another. Gaemini and Braenna were sitting side by side playing some game on a pair of datapads. Sanzura and Letra were each studying something individually on their own datapads. He left everyone but Letra to their tasks. His little black haired minx he picked up. Her eyes were wide and first, and he noted the small crackle of electricity from her fingers. This happened when, and only when, the little one was startled. No matter how hard Mysty tried, Letra couldn’t duplicate it at any other time.

Nikki carried her into the control cabin, the helm of the ship. He sat down and put her in his lap, “Whatcha doin’ my little beauty?”

“Learning how to stitch up someone when they got hurt in the kidney, Daddy. Shows how to take it out, and everything, without the person bleedin’ all over the place,” she held up the datapad to show him the image of a perfectly sealed surgical incision.

“That’s nasty. Why you tryin’ to learn to be a medic, kid?”

“So when you or Khem or ‘Shara or my sisters gets hurt, you don’t have to hurt from Mother tryin’ ta fix you.”

“So medicine is what you’re interested in?”

“Yup. I’ma be a medical Mand’lorian.”

This was the first time he heard that word from any of his kids. He blinked at his daughter, “A Mandalorian, huh? Why?”

“’Cause everything they do has a reason and is filled up with honor and stuff.”

“There are a lot of things that are honorable, beauty.”

“I don’t has the Force, Daddy. I just remember everything, all the time. But my friend, ‘Rian, he’s a Mand’lorian, kinda.”

Nikki looked at Letra confused, “Where did you mean this ‘Rian, beauty? On your datapad?”

“No. Twovee turned off the outside people on my datapad. He was in my dream. I dream ‘bout him sometimes. He’s nice, but kinda quiet,” she looked up at Nikki as he set a course for Dromund Kaas. He glanced down into her big beautiful blue eyes.

“How old is he? Is he your boyfriend?” Nikki couldn’t resist teasing the second born of the quintuplets.

“Eeewww! Daddy!! Boys are icky!” Letra scrunched up her face. He gave her his best sad look at her proclamation and she was quick to add, “Only you, Khem, Talos and Xalek is okay. ‘Rian is same age as me. He lives with people who’s not his family. His mom and dad are gone, they were bad, and Mand’lore made them go away. He’s sad a lot. But I make him feel better by tellin’ him ‘bout stupid stuff my sisters do.”

“Like what?”

“Like that time Sanza got that little bearing in her nose, and wouldn’t sit still for Twovee to get it out. Or when Braenna sneezed and farted at the same time and she said it felt like Khem pulled her butt with his claws. Or-“

Nikki laughed, “I got it. Do you ever see ‘Rian when you’re awake?”

Letra snorted, sounding a lot like her mother, “No, Dad. You gotta be sleepin’ to talk to ‘Rian.”

“Do you ever fight with him?”

“Never. We play with just our hands, tryin’ ta pin each other on the ground. I win a lot, but ‘Rian’s learning. I teach him stuff like Khem and Xalek and you teach me,” she puffed up proudly.

“Alright, good. You teach that kid good, okay?”

“Yup. What we learnin’ today, Daddy?”

“Nothin’. We’re just spendin’ time together. That okay, beauty?”

“Yup. Lemme put this thingie away,” she scrambled down from his lap and walked out the door, but he could hear her feet pick up into a run to her room near the back of the ship. He snickered at her attempt at deception. A few minutes later, she was back, and crawled back up into his lap.

**~*~**

_Three years later_ , Letra focused on the blaster parts in front of her. She was working diligently putting it together. It was a work in progress. Her father gave it to her a few months ago, and some of the pieces she had to fix before she could put it together. Her dad was serious about his blasters. Each of her sisters had one, except Ameranis and Baejiou who didn’t live with them anymore. But Letra didn’t like thinking about that.

When it was done, she would be excited to tell Rian all about building her first blaster. She hated that he was only real in her head, and only in her dreams, but oh well, at least she had a friend somewhere. Letra and her sisters didn’t leave the ship that much. Mother always said it wasn’t safe. And she was always testing Gem, Sanza, Brae and her for more Force stuff than they had. It was annoying and even worse when Mother got mad because they didn’t have it.

Gem could feel emotions, Letra could remember everything, Brae could always tell if you were lying and Sanza always knew how to get into and out of everything without getting caught. They were different, and they all had dream friends. When you scared them, startled them or made them really angry, sometimes they would spark with purple electricity. But it never happened when Mother wanted them to do it.

Mother and Daddy were arguing a lot more. Especially after Mother’s “lessons” on how to get more Force stuff to come out of them. It always ended with them going to their cabin and making more noise. Sometimes with Mother screaming, but Twovee always said that she wasn’t hurt.

Letra focused back down on the blaster pieces again, and began to move her tools, putting them carefully together. Her hands were slow, cautious and deliberate. Some of the pieces were delicate, and she didn’t want to have to fix them again before she could get them into the blaster and show her dad that she made the machine work.

**~*~**

_Five years later_ , Letra grunted as she landed on her back. Khem spoke in his own language, the only language he ever spoke, “You were good that time, Little One. Your grip was weak because of my size. You must discover a way to fight someone larger, even though you are small. Show me what Ashara showed you.”

Letra nodded, all of her concentration on the fight against Khem. She implemented a move Ashara taught her, and she flipped onto Khem’s back. Her small hands went immediately to his eyes, her fingers pressing, but doing no damage. “Does this work, Khem?” She tapped his forehead with two fingers letting him know that she was asking seriously rather than using a distraction.

“Yes. If you can surprise them. Most would not expect a child to jump like that, with that skill. Now, let me show you how it fails. Do it again, Little One,” Khem knelt down to let Letra off his back more easily.

Letra duplicated the attack, and ended up on the flat of her back so quickly, she was startled, “How?”

“I felt you coming. When you got close, I was able to catch you and throw you down. Show me another,” Khem demanded, as she got to her feet.

Nikki left the doorway of the cargo hold and went back to his work, checking engine readings. When he felt his wife behind him, he said nothing. Her voice, thick with its Imperial accent, as only Gaemini seemed to work to maintain, managed to annoy him, “You’re upset, what’s bothering you, Andronikos?”

“I just saw Khem throw Letra on the floor.”

“And?”

“And?” he demanded, getting to his feet and turning on her. “She’s twelve! She shouldn’t be being tossed around like a bag of trash!”

“Why are you yelling at me? Tell Khem what your thoughts are on the matter.”

“He wouldn’t do anything without your permission, _Darth Mysterion_. That’s why I’m yelling at you! My kids are getting beat up and bruised-“

“So they can defend themselves from enemies that you and I have both made through our lives, Andronikos. Khem, Ashara and Xalek aren’t going to hurt the girls. You know that.”

“Then why are they being bruised?”

“Are they complaining about it, or are they like their father and bruise a bit more easily than I do?” Mysty made sense, and it was taking the wind out of Nikki’s sails. Which was annoying him. He hated when Mysty was being imperious.

“Shut up, sith,” he growled and turned back to the ship’s controls.

Mysty laughed and moved up behind him, her hands resting on his shoulders, “You don’t like it when I’m right.”

“And you don’t like it when I’m right, so?”

“I know the children are always your primary concern, Andronikos. In this situation, they are twelve now, and it’s past time for them to learn to take care of themselves.”

“Like Ama and Bae?” he demanded.

Mysty’s hands retreated, “Are you looking for a fight, husband?”

“Maybe,” he admitted sullenly.

“Come with me,” she ordered. He followed, mostly out of curiosity. But part of him truly knew what his wife was up to. He needed to get rid of excess energy and rage, and after almost seventeen years of being together in one form or another, she knew how to diffuse a nearly explosive situation when it was building on his side of things.”

**~*~**

Letra stood on Hutta for the first time in her life. She’d been cut loose as a bounty hunter almost a year prior. She was grateful to be on her own, doing her own thing. Gem was in training to become an Imperial Spy. Sanza stole a ship almost a year ago, and was cruising the galaxy moving goods from location to location for profit, under the radar. Brae did the thing none of them wanted any of them to do. She turned to the Republic, and was getting ready to start her life as a power cannon for the Republic Military. Gem and Brae fought a lot about it. Mysty refused to admit Braenna was her daughter. Daddy understood what she was doing. Letra didn’t care. She was tied to the Empire only because of where her money came from.

She moved through the ratty town, going for the cantina where she was supposed to meet the old man, Bradan. The Great Hunt was coming, and she knew she was badass enough to win it. She just needed the team to make it happen, and Bradan seemed to have all the answers on that front.

“Time to start your life, Letra. Get your ass moving,” she muttered, and wished she still had her dream friend Rian to talk to about these things. She was about to make her life long dream of becoming a Mandalorian with extensive medical background come true.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is to be continued in [The Champion](http://www.archiveofourown.org/works/11757588/chapters/26501634) story series.


End file.
